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Massachusetts Criminals, Litigants, Lawyers and Jurors
(1673-1692)The only surviving complete volume of the records of the courts held by the Governor and Assistants of the Colony of the Massachusetts Bay is for the period 1673 to 1692. It was transcribed by John Noble, and published by order of the Board of Aldermen of the City of Boston, New England, as County Commissioners of the County of Suffolk, Massachusetts. Under English law overseas colonies were generally deemed to fall under the jurisdiction of the Admiralty, and were subject to English law varied by local circumstances. These Courts of Assistants therefore also function as Courts of Admiralty; the courts had jurisiction over criminal cases and also in civil disputes between parties. In practice, many of the names that occur in the record are just those of the members of the grand jury and the lesser juries (appointed from among the adult male householders of the colony) before whom the cases were tried.